The DesignLights Consortium

DesignLights Consortium – Bringing Efficiency to Light.

Ora’s branding process reveals an opportunity.

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC), a non-profit organization and champion of energy efficiency in the commercial lighting industry, asked Ora to reenergize their brand. A small team of highly motivated industry experts, the DLC has grown from a start-up into the leading resource in the US and Canada for rigorous evaluations of lighting products. The time had come for their brand to catch up with their progress.

Ora created a new brand identity that reflects the DLC’s mission and professionalism. The new tagline, “Bringing efficiency to light,” captures the brand’s promise to provide expertise, tools, and open dialog to drive efficiency in commercial lighting.

Ora developed the tagline, logo, and accompanying brand elements

The bright color palette of the logo reflects the passion and optimism of the brand. The colors are warm and inviting, subtly reinforcing the collaborative nature of the DLC’s process. It’s geometric letter forms project a sense of competence and reliability. The radiant lines are symbolic of the DLC’s mission to drive efficient lighting.

The bright color palette of the logo reflects the passion and optimism of the brand.

The Brand guide.

The Brand guide, interior spread.

THE BRAND GUIDE, INTERIOR SPREAD.

Posters to celebrate the launch of the new brand identity.

The DLC relies heavily on their website to publish their findings. Following Ora’s branding process, and with the aid of the DLC staff, core users of the website were interviewed to gain insight into how they use it. Core users told us that accessing the DLC’s product databases is a vital part of their daily workflow. A reflection of the importance they placed on the DLC’s work. However, they also reported high levels of frustration when trying to access relevant data – undermining the DLC’s mission.

Using these insights, the new website design emphasizes direct access to the site’s search functions. Refinements were also made to how search results are displayed, providing users with several new options to sort and view information.

Announcements about upcoming events and changes to the databases are now highlighted on the home page, preventing unwanted surprises to users and increasing the likelihood that they will attend events.

Lastly, Ora improved the presentation of the DLC staff bios to help users and staff members connect.

The new website makes it easier for users to search the DLC’s databases.

The new design makes it easier for users to find news and events.

improved search and filtering capabilities.

Improving the presentation of the team, adding a human touch to the DLC brand.